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Seraphim Initiative
The Seraphim Initiative is a small and secret Aeyzerian organization operating under the banner of the Ministry of the Interior. It was made to deal with hostile paranormal phenomenon within its borders, and at times will extend its efforts to support other nations if ordered to. The Initiative's existence has never been officially revealed to the public, and such knowledge of existence is in word of mouth only, as no documents exist between the Initiative or the Aeyzerian government. The only link is a large monthly sum of money covering operational and living expenses, and a direct personal line to the Minister of the Interior. Otherwise, the Initiative manages its own intelligence-gathering, counter-intelligence, operations, and command structure, although it ultimately reports to the Conclave of Sovereigns at day's end. History The Initiative came into being starting after World War I, after the Ministry of the Interior had empirically identified supernatural phenomenon in the country to be a positive threat in the day-to-day lives of Aeyzerian citizens, especially in what would be later known as Class-V Event Series, hauntings or poltergeist-like phenomena that would ultimately lead to severe bodily injury, death, or irreparable mental harm. While the interest was maintained, it was only by a small group of activists from within the Ministry of the Interior that were often seen as obsessed occultists. Such information was often ignored by the major internal security agency, the Imperial Bureau of Inspection as nothing but ramblings of the insane. Ultimately, it took an event that involved the Sovereign's own to bring about a task force to neutralize such a threat. On April 12, 1994, Sovereign Ferinas was visiting an old Tennessee ranch house, infamous for heavy poltergeist activity. He wished to explore the ranch as a possible site for expansion, but the local communities had been careful to avoid the area completely. To prove that the haunting was but an imaginary matter, the Sovereign resolved to sleep at the site, guarded by his Sentinels. Within an hour of nightfall, the Sovereign and his company endured a night filled with constant harassment and physical punishment. Unbeknownst to him, the Sovereign had stumbled upon a Binding Aspect- a supernatural being that attached itself to a particular person and endeavored to bring about terror, pain, suffering, and ultimately death. The haunting would carry to the Imperial Residence of Hazelwood itself, and the Sovereign would endure another week of sleepless nights before turning to help. The Seraphim Initiative was immediately sanctioned for formation on April 25. The first team was a gathering of so-called experts to help purge the Aspect from continued activity. The first team team of Seraphim was classified for nearly six centuries, and only then was such information availiable to government and military officials directly under the Sovereigns themselves. Seraphim-1 was led by none other than Ed and Loraine Warren, expert demonologists of the time and would ultimately become the founders of the Seraphim Initiative. In time, they learned that hauntings and possessions of Abrahamic faiths alone did not exist- for there were many others. In this, they called upon others who were trained or self-taught in the manner of exorcism or spiritual eradication. Today, more than 50 Seraphim teams exist across all of Aeyzerian space, ready to act whenever called upon. Standard Operational Protocol The Seraphim Initiative over the years developed a protocol to dispatch certain hostile spiritual entities, known as Aspects. Phase 1: Search Firstly, contracted mediums and psychics throughout human space would search for malevolent Aspects. Upon identification and confirmation of the existence of such an Aspect, the Initiative would target its own mediums and psychics to pinpoint and identify the Aspect's location and its Origin. The Origin is used to identify whom to send to dispatch the Aspect. While all members that bear faith in any certain religion or more rarely, a philosophy can combat an Aspect, (a concept known as Conviction Theory) those more versed in a particular faith are more readily able to defeat an aspect of a similar Origin. Because the Aeyzerian Empire is predominantly Christian, most operations deal with demons originating from Abrahamic faiths, although operatives have neutralized Aspects of dozens of other religions, both extant and extinct. Phase 2: On-Site Analysis Second is deployment and on-site analyzation. Containment crews, generally lesser operatives of the Initiative arrive to contain the Aspect from escape and also gather more information while the Seraphim team travels to the location, at which time, any relevant information is given to the Seraphim crew. Phase 3: Attack At this point, it is either identified that the Aspect is either Ephemeral or Corporeal. Ephemeral Aspects are Aspects that have the ability to project their psychic power from the Between (a location presumed to be an alternate dimension) to affect the real world. Corporeal Aspects are actual physical beings that have taken form. The former type of Aspects can be neutralized by travelling to the Between on site and destroying the Aspect there. This is the predominant type of Aspects dealt with by the Seraphim. The latter type of Aspects are by far the most dangerous, as their psychic ability is not hindered by the crossing of dimensions, and their terrible physical strength (as many hostile Aspects have) will be realized in full. However, Corporeal Aspects are rare as such they often cannot reach physical form without a great deal of psychic activity, otherwise alerting the Seraphim to neutralize such a threat before it is too late. To do this, Seraphim operatives must put themselves in a trance much like a dream state, but achievable with years of practice or physically induced by chemical compounds. Neutralizing Ephemeral Aspects In neutralizing Ephemeral Aspects, Seraphim teams operate in groups of two, in a doctrine known as 'Five In, Five Out'- Five operatives remain outside to keep the entering (otherwise known as diving) operative's body safe, and if need be, forcefully extract them from the Between. Once in the between, the diving operatives will do battle with religious incantations, weapons, and relics that are carried over with them into the Between. The threat here of loss of life is real, for destruction of one's self in the Between is annihilation of their soul, akin to brain death in the material world. Neutralizing Corporeal Aspects In combat against Corporeal Aspects, there are situations in which Aeyzerian military forces may be called to contain and destroy the threat. Such Aspects are often fought with the full might of the Seraphim. Oftentimes, many Seraphim die in such events that take generations to recover from. Locations at which a Corporeal Aspect is neutralized are quarantined by Imperial Order, the Aspect's body incinerated and its ashes stored on site in a full Valantium case, designed to be unopenable after closure.